The Commissioner has today announced the membership of the Appointments Committee that will appoint the Chair and members of the Board of the Recognition Panel (24 January 2014)

The Commissioner has today announced the membership of the Appointments Committee to appoint the Chair and members of the Board of the Recognition Panel established under the Royal Charter on self regulation of the press.

The Royal Charter requires the Appointments Committee to be chaired by a Public Appointments Assessor. Dame Anne Pringle, former British Ambassador to Moscow and a current Public Appointment Assessor, will therefore chair the Committee. The other members of the Committee are:-

Dr Chitra Bharucha, former Vice Chair of the BBC Trust and former member of the General Medical Council

Andrew Flanagan, former Chief Executive of the Scottish Media Group and current Civil Service Commissioner; and

Elizabeth France, former Information Commissioner and current Chair of the Office for Legal Complaints.

In assembling the Appointments Committee the Commissioner has sought to appoint people with the right mix of skills and experience to make the appointments, including those with experience in regulatory matters, the media industry and consumer affairs.

The Commissioner has set out how the Committee is required to go about making the appointments in the appointment letters he has sent to them. He expects the process to appoint the Chair of the Board of the Recognition Panel to commence as soon practicable. It is a requirement of the Royal Charter that the Chair of the Board of the Recognition Panel is appointed first and that, once appointed, the Chair takes part in the process to appoint the members of the Board.

The Appointments Committee will now put in place the arrangements for the competition to appoint the Chair of the Board of the Recognition Panel. The Commissioner has asked the Committee to launch the competition as soon as possible in February.